Montana PSC Gives UBER Final Approval, Ride Sharing Can Begin

Montana Public Service Commissioner Brad Johnson announced today, December 15, that the commission had decided to finalize UBER’s application to offer its ride sharing program in Montana.

"The commission today approved the first UBER operator application to operate in Montana. From our perspective, this creates additional choices for Montanans with regard to how they get from point A to point B. I think, generally speaking, the more times we can give Montanans more choices the better off everyone is"

The final vote was four to one, with Missoula area PSC Commissioner Bob Lake voting in the minority. According to Lake, this approval of UBER “gives one type of business model within the transportation industry a special exception that provides an unfair advantage to compete with existing businesses.” Johnson appears to agree with Lake, but says that the next legislature should be able to clear up the requirements.

"There are some technical things, like what financial reporting is required by the taxi cab companies verses what is required of the ride-sharing companies. I think there may be some need to kind of equalize some of that technical stuff and I think it will be addressed by the legislature in the next session."

According to Johnson, the approval means that UBER can begin ride sharing immediately.